a unique perspective

I could quibble about the actual weight classes but I’ll pass in favor of saying this is a big step in the right direction for a corrupt bureaucratic body that usually is only interested in feathering its own nest. The jump between the current weight classes is way to large, especially the Olympic weights (6 weights). This will allow wrestlers from America and around the world to do their best wrestling on the mat and not leave in the workout room trying to cut weight. Which Americans get a better sniff at the World team next year with the added weight class? KD & DT have to be at the top of the list.

New Weight Classes
Freestyle will keep all their current Olympic and non-Olympic weight categories and will simply add 79kg and 92kg.

Junior-level and U-23 wrestlers will also compete at the senior-level weight categories.

The bureau also announced an updated list of host cities for the 2018 season, highlighted by Nigeria taking on the Cadet, Junior and Senior African Championships. The Nigerian Wrestling Federation, led by 2000 Olympic gold medalist Daniel IGALI (Canada), is coming off their best-ever performance at the 2017 world championships and will host the event in Port Harcourt.

Yigo (Guam) will host all three Oceania age-level events, while Bishkek (Krygzstan) takes the Asian Senior championships, Lima the Pan-Am Senior championships, and Kapiisk (Russia) the European Senior Championships.

The U-23 World Championship have been awarded to Bucharest, Romania, with Trnava (Slovakia) hosting the Junior World Championships and the Cadet World Championships headed to Zagreb (Croatia).

Additional Announcements
• The two-day competition format was approved for the 2018 season and will commence on January 1, 2018. A 2-kilo allowance for the second day will be granted for one year. On January 1, 2019 the allowance will no longer be available.
• The Olympic qualification system was approved, with the World Championships (6), Continental qualifiers (8) and a World Open (2) accounting for the 16 allotments. Continental championships will also be held.
• Greco-Roman rules were adjusted for the 2018 season with ordered par-terre added back into the rules, however par-terre attempts will be limited to a total of 2 per match.
• Cadet and Schoolboy weight categories have been approved. They will be released in the coming days.
• Four-year referee education plan was approved. The plan runs from 2017-2021
• Scoreboards to count down from 6 minutes to 0.
• Cautions are now 1-point.